Age of Adepts

The path of an adept was not built in a single day!

Those who attempted to take a shortcut would always pay a heavy price. It would often be one that an ordinary person would not be able to endure.

Right now, Meryl was enduring inhuman torture and agony for her past sloth and indulgence.

Tremendous power required an equally tremendous Physique as the host. The reason the dragons were all so massive was to be able to contain their powerful bloodline talent.

However, the dragons required year after year of long sleep to digest and absorb their bloodline powers. Meryl, on the other hand, was attempting to assimilate the bloodline rune in a short period of time; it was only natural that she would suffer some pain. This cruel modification process was unavoidable unless she could seal herself somewhere and meditate over a long period, much like a dragon.

Over the entire month, Meryl was always between heaven and hell. One leg in life and one in death, she struggled and endured painfully between the two.

The bloodline rune started by slightly radiating a trace of fire dragon aura, cooking her flesh and boiling her blood. By the end, all the fire essence that had accumulated within her body was slowly released and started to change and modulate her life circulation system passively.

First was the heart. This core organ of life gradually grew bigger and stronger from the changes produced by the fire dragon heart. A human heart had trouble enduring the shockwaves from a fire dragon’s aura. As such, two small auxiliary hearts had unknowingly grown to the side and back of Meryl’s heart.

Through their joint absorption and filtering, the fire dragon aura no longer ravaged her body as it had in the past. Instead, the aura became the source from where colossal bloodline powers slowly emerged.

The organs and blood vessels in Meryl’s body also became tougher, more flexible, and significantly more fire-resistant. In fact, many of her muscles and tissues had even undergone incomprehensible changes, becoming more suited for the circulation and storage of fire energy.

During this time, Meryl’s body also showed some signs of draconification.

Every time she consciously gathered fire energy, a thin layer of dark red scales would appear on her skin. They rang with a metallic sound when tapped. Moreover, whenever Meryl gathered fire energy in one of her hands, her slender and white hand would turn into a scale-covered dragon claw. Her claws could easily pierce alloy shields with less than one hundred points of defensive power as well as easily crush stone into a fine dust.

That proved the draconified Meryl had experienced an immense improvement in Strength and Physique.

Once Meryl had wholly adapted to the bloodline rune and was capable of elementary fire energy manipulation, Greem gave her a comprehensive analysis once again.

Meryl. Advanced First Grade.

Profession: Bloodline Adept (Fire Dragon Transformation).

Bodily Attributes: Strength 16 | Physique 17 | Agility 9 | Spirit 17

One had to admit that the changes from the bloodline modification on her power were truly immense.

Her Strength had gone from 4 to 16 points, her Physique from 8 to 17, her Agility from 5 to 9, and her Spirit from 14 to 17. The increase in her attributes was truly breathtaking!

If one were to say that Meryl only used to be an ordinary First Grade adept that did not even deserve the title of a veteran, then her power was now very close to the level of elite adepts. She was no weaker than an elite adept when it came to her attributes. The only difference was probably in her fighting techniques and spellcasting abilities.

However, this was only her ability after the first stage of assimilation with the bloodline rune. From now on, as her assimilation degree with the bloodline rune increased, her basic abilities would also improve exponentially.

When that happened, she would only need to put in a little bit of effort, and she would be able to crush those elite adepts of the same grade easily.

Unfortunately, Meryl’s compatibility with the fire dragon bloodline was still a bit insufficient. She could only manage a partial draconic transformation at First Grade. Either dragon scale protection, dragon’s breath, or bloodline aura intimidation; these were all decent defensive and offensive skills.

She would probably have to wait until Second Grade to have a chance at complete draconic transformation.

With the firm foundations established by the Third Grade fire dragon, Meryl’s path to Second Grade had already been laid out for her. She only needed to assimilate and absorb the rune now, slowly waiting for her power to cross the threshold of Second Grade.

From this aspect alone, Meryl’s advancement to Second Grade was much, much simpler than most people’s!

It was also a demonstration of how having a powerful adept standing behind you would make the path of advancement a smooth and effortless one. It was the main reason why most low and intermediate-grade adepts were willing to be commanded by a high-grade adept.

In just five months, Meryl had successfully completed her fire dragon bloodline modification and assimilated the bloodline rune. All sorts of hidden and unseen benefits would slowly reveal themselves over the next decade, pushing her back to the second tier fighting force of the clan once more.

It was the bountiful reward that her legendary teacher, the Crimson Clan leader, had bestowed upon her for her years of service!

Of course, Greem also took this opportunity to gather the bloodline modification data he wanted successfully.

…………

World of Adepts, White Tower.

The light from the teleportation started to fade slowly. Meryl opened her eyes with a bright smile on her face.

The benefits brought to her by bloodline modification were simply too many. Even the dizziness from teleportation was much shorter now.

Meryl had intentionally picked the public teleportation array at he plaza outside White Tower as her destination this time.

Thus, as she casually walked out, the clan adept stationed at the edge of the array hurriedly and confusedly bowed in greeting. The adepts and apprentices walking by the teleportation plaza also stopped in their tracks in dumbfoundedness. They made way for her and respectfully gave their greetings.

It had already been half a year since they had last heard of Adept Meryl.

White Tower claimed that Adept Meryl was conducting a major magical experiment and, thus, was temporarily not receiving any outsiders. Witch Snowlotus from the Fate Witches had also replaced her in authority.

The adepts and apprentices living at White Tower felt this small change most profoundly and most sensitively. However, the higher-ups of the Crimson Clan remained silent throughout. As such, no adept dared to question the whereabouts of Meryl.

The apprentices might not be too shocked at suddenly seeing Adept Meryl once again, but the clan adepts were all stunned in befuddlement. They could hardly believe their own eyes or spiritual senses.

The elementium aura and mental flux of every adept were unique and possessed their own frequency and wavelength.

However, the Adept Meryl before them, though the very same person, had undergone a complete change in elementium aura and mental flux. Moreover, after just six months, Adept Meryl’s figure had changed tremendously. She was now taller and had seemingly stronger muscles.

Meryl used to only be one hundred and seventy centimeters in the past, but she was now nearly two entire meters!

Her previously light blue eyes had also turned dark red, with the light of fire faintly glimmering at the fringes.

Every time the adepts locked eyes with her, they would feel their eyeballs sting with pain as if they had been slightly burned. The adept apprentices didn’t even dare to stare directly at this once gentle female adept. Otherwise, their eyes would most surely water and hurt so much that they would not be able to open them.

What moved everyone the most was that vague spiritual pressure that hung faintly around Meryl. It caused the heart of every person around her to beat erratically and uncontrollably.

The apprentices were not experienced or well-versed. They had no idea what this effect was. However, the Crimson adepts had a very clear idea of what it was.

Dragon’s aura of might!

A weakened version of a dragon’s aura!

Since when did Meryl possess spiritual pressure that could imitate a dragon’s aura? It was unthinkable!

Meryl casually walked into White Tower amid the little storm she had personally started. She then took one of the flying discs and flew toward the higher levels of the tower.

News of her return quickly spread through the tower. Of course, this included Snowlotus who was sitting on the hall of the seventh floor and Vanlier, who was standing by her side to help her.

Snowlotus waved away the water mirror in front of her as a cold smile appeared on her white and pretty face.

“Your old master’s flexing her power to me! It seems like her bloodline modification at her teacher’s place went very well.”

Vanlier still had a fawning smile on his face, but he gave no quarter with his words.

“I will only ever have one master– Lady Mary herself!”

Snowlotus was stunned for a moment. She knew that she had made an indiscreet remark.

Lady Mary was indeed one of the strongest individuals in the Crimson Clan. Apart from her own terrifying Third Grade power, she possessed a large group of Second Grade vampires under to her. Though Snowlotus and the Fate Witches were not under the governance of the Crimson Clan, she still had to maintain respect in words and attitude toward an influential individual like that.

It was a rule of the adepts that all low-grade adepts must obey. Otherwise, a high-grade adept would have more than enough excuse to punish her and teach a lesson.

Though Snowlotus was not interested in authority over White Tower, or even the internal matters of the Crimson Clan, she still couldn’t be composed at seeing the changes that had occurred to Meryl.

The increase in strength of any party in the tight collaboration of the Crimson Clan and the Fate Witches would cause the barely maintained power balance to tilt in one’s favor.

The simultaneous advancement of Greem and Mary to Third Grade had already significantly impacted the Fate Witches. If a few more powerhouses appeared within the lower level adepts of the Crimson Clan, it would become increasingly harder to maintain the balance between their two forces.

As such, Icelady Snowlotus felt no joy upon seeing Meryl’s triumphant return. Instead, she felt a deep sense of defeat and danger deep in her heart.

Compared to the Crimson adepts, the Fate Witches were improving far, far too slowly.